Humanitarian supplies for people fleeing violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region arrived by air on Friday in Khartoum, Sudan. UN refugee agency spokesperson, Babar Baloch,  said that another airlift was scheduled to leave Dubai on Monday, with an additional 100 tons of relief items. He added that four airlifts were planned in total.

Arab News reports that more than 43 000 refugees have crossed into Sudan since the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region began in early November. Following the Ethiopian Government’s ultimatum to forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to surrender, people have fled to neighboring Sudan, amid reports of a heavy build-up of tanks and artillery around the regional capital, Mekelle.

The ultimatum has expired, with the Ethiopian federal army expected to launch attacks on the capital in the coming days.

Arab News reports that earlier this week, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, had called for the “free and safe movement of people searching for safety and assistance, regardless of their ethnic identity, across both national and international borders”. Further, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned that both sides were using language that was “dangerously provocative and risks placing already vulnerable and frightened civilians in grave danger”.

Sudan had already been hosting nearly a million refugees from Africa, even before the Tigray conflict erupted. Baloch said that more resources were required, and that international support was urgently needed by Sudan.

Umm Muhammed Umar